Category: Feminism

This is the full-length version of an article published by the New Statesman on 13 May 2016. Recently published figures on forced marriage confirm that the crime is vastly under-reported and that only a fraction of investigations result in prosecution. This comes as no surprise to me, and we can...

So a couple of weeks ago I read an article by Allison Pearson for The Telegraph about a new item of clothing being sold by our beloved British retailer Marks and Spencer: the burkini. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, it is a name coined for...

In March this year the Islamic Society at the London School of Economics held a gala dinner that segregated men and women, erecting a 7ft screen to split the hall in two – in order to prevent any other type of erections, they’d argue. Unsurprisingly, those that don’t hold the view...

Religion and spirituality – or lack thereof – are deeply personal issues, and the way that followers practice their faith can change drastically over time according to each individual’s journey. But within many Muslim communities, women are subjected to constant monitoring of their behaviour and are assessed on whether they are ‘Muslim enough’. Despite the irrelevance...

I was born in London into a Pakistani Muslim family. Like most kids from Muslim families I knew I was Muslim, although I didn’t know why. I did know I had to go to madrassas on the weekends or after school, and that I had to follow some rules that my...

The hijab is probably one of the most hotly discussed items of clothing around, second only to the Little Black Dress (which I’d better not start talking about in case the haram police comes for me). Seen as traditional attire for women in Islam, the hijab for many is a symbol...